Gamblers Anonymous need not open a division for bees. Researchers know that bees are not comfortable with high risk ventures and tend to invest their time and energy in the places, plants, colors and particular flowers that they already know. Like many people, bees tend to avoid risk.

By studying the behavioral patterns of bees, Dr. Sharoni Shafir of the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Rehovot, hopes to understand the psyche of the bee. This information will help honey growers to select the flowers that most attract bees. Once the market research on the flower preferences of the bee is complete, researchers will be able to recommend the most suitable flowers to beekeepers. This in turn will lead bees to produce honey more efficiently and in larger quantities. This information is valuable to bee keepers. For them, a satisfied bee produces more honey.

Genetic components affect simple behavior as well as complex decision-making. Bees are often given the job of plant cross-pollination.

As seed producing companies need bees to help produce seeds from one place with ovules (female) from another kind of flower. The bees are responsible for the cross pollination. Honey bees are also the main flower pollinators. Bees go to the flowers for both nectar (sugar) and pollen (protein).

As the research continues, Shafir and his team hope to identify the bees who are the greatest risk takers. Using the queen and drones from the high risk taking group, he hopes to be able to produce a progeny of risk takers. Once they have bred, the offspring will be compared with a control group. Shafir hopes to discover if those with a genetic component to take risks actually do take greater risks than those in the control group.

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